Dee Snider Left With ‘Emotional Scars’ From Early Club Shows

Dee Snider recalled how he had been left with “emotional scars” from a handful of club shows in London that helped secure Twisted Sister's reputation.

Live recordings from two appearances at the Marquee Club in March 1983 are included in the upcoming expanded release of the band's second album You Can’t Stop Rock ’n’ Roll, which was originally issued that year.

“It was an experience,” Snider told Goldmine (via Blabbermouth) of the shows. “It was that next level of audience commitment – get as packed, as close, as tight as you can and become one with that was going on. We had already done some legendary, debilitating – for ourselves – shows in a heatwave [also in London], packed to the rafters on the hottest day. Record-breaking temperatures. People were being carted away by EMTs.”

Snider noted that he "literally, from those shows, had emotional scars." "Any time we’d get hot I would start panicking, because I had been so suffocated," he explained. "It turned out the club owner was running the heat in the club to get people to drink more. These shows had become legend … where we thought we had been defeated by the elements, the press the next day couldn’t believe we were standing up. People were being carried away and we were up there rocking in this intense heat. By the time we rolled into these shows [on the live album], they had to see this band. This was the launching platform. It was a celebration — it was a moment for us."

Thinking about Twisted Sister’s early days in general, Snider said they were creating a larger concert experience "in the club environment. "We were so much larger than life," he recalled.

"It seemed like we were from another planet. We were gigantic, and we knew how to grab the audience by the balls and take them for a ride. We took it around the world, and people were stunned. People would go, 'How did you get so good at handling a crowd?' I said, '50,000 people at Donington is easy compared to one-dollar beer night at the Osprey on the Jersey shore. That's a tough room. If you can control that room, you can handle anything.”

The new version of You Can’t Stop Rock ’N’ Roll arrives on Sept. 14. Snider released a new solo album, For the Love of Metal, in July.